Showbiz411

Yesterday, the principals of Prospect Park Productions went on set for the first time to ABC’s “All My Children.” They talked with the cast and crew about their intentions, and explained why so far no one–with maybe the exception of Susan Lucci–knows much about the company’s plans to move this soap and “One Life to Live” to the internet. I am told by sources inside that “All My Children” will not be going directly from TV to the web on Monday, September 29th. “The goal is to be on the web in the first quarter of 2012,” says a source. So “AMC” really will have a finale on September 26th. Ditto “One Life to Live,” which will end its run on January 20, 2012 but not reappear the following Monday on the web. Also, I can tell you exclusively that Prospect Park is preparing to take “General Hospital” from ABC when that run ends, probably in a year. Will this all happen? Will Prospect Park really save the soaps? No one really knows. A big part of the move is collective bargaining with all the unions and guilds involved. Then there are questions of where the shows will be taped–ABC moved “AMC” to Los Angeles against the wishes of the actors, uprooting lots of families. My guess is the “AMC” gang wouldn’t mind going home.

Roger Friedman

Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News. Friedman previously wrote the Intelligencer column at New York Magazine, He writes for Parade magazine and has written for Details, Vogue, the New York Times, Post, and Daily News and many other publications. He is the writer and co-producer of a film about R&B Music called “Only the Strong Survive,” which was released by Miramax in 2003 and was a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals.